AUSTIN — A federal three-judge panel in San Antonio said Thursday it will commence the second phase of a trial challenging Texas’ redistricting maps on Aug. 11. The first phase, which will look at claims made against political boundaries drawn in 2…
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UPDATE: Abbott spokeswoman Lauren Bean said the state has already appealed the court decision awarding Wendy Davis’ lawyers more than $260,0oo in fees. “We are pleased that Plaintiff Davis’ original request for $616,000 in attorneys’ fees has now been reduced to $267,000, and that multiple inappropriate fee requests have been denied,” Bean said in a […]
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AUSTIN — A trial date has been set for July 2014 in a case involving a legal challenge to Texas’ redistricting maps and a request to require the state to once again adhere to preclearance requirements. A federal three-judge panel in San Antonio on Friday issued a schedule for the case, mostly granting state attorneys’ wishes to […]
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The Obama administration will be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit waged by a bevy of civil rights groups challenging Texas’ redistricting maps, a federal three-judge panel said Tuesday. The move officially positions Obama’s Department of Justice squarely against state Attorney General Greg Abbott in both pending Voting Rights Act cases being waged in Texas. […]
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Sen. Wendy Davis, the Fort Worth Democrat still considering a run for governor, is one step closer to getting reimbursed by the state for a legal battle with Attorney General Greg Abbott over redistricting. A three-judge federal panel in San Antonio on Wednesday officially handed Davis a victory against Abbott — the front runner to […]
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Taking exception to statements by Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in an op-ed piece published Monday by the Houston Chronicle, the Texas Senate’s Democratic Caucus chairman filed a proposed change to the current Congressional redistricting plan, arguing that a Washington D.C. federal court had found it was drawn with “discriminatory intent.”
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There’s a bit of drama brewing over the House redistricting chief’s choice to hire two Baylor professors as outside lawyers to advise lawmakers in the lower chamber on their redistricting plans during the special session. We first reported Wednesday that the Texas Legislative Council inked contracts with David Guinn and Mike Morrison for outside legal
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Gov. Rick Perry said Friday it’s “certainly possible” that he’ll add legislation to fix the troubled Texas Windstorm Insurance Association to the special-session agenda. But on that and other potential additions, said he first would like to see lawmakers approaching agreement on a bill. “We’re not going to be adding things to the call just
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UPDATE: Sen. Kel Seliger, the upper chamber’s redistricting chief during the special session, is hoping to get a bill outlining the state’s election maps on the Senate floor for a vote by June 15. “That right now tentatively looks like our target date,” Seliger said during a minutes-long Senate session Thursday. Also, it appears that
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As legislative leaders struggled over budget differences, talk turned toward the likelihood of a special session that could go well beyond the expected redistricting. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, expressing frustration that Democrats have blocked bills including anti-abortion and gun measures, said he has asked Gov. Rick Perry to include them among a laundry list of
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